Midterm Evaluation (IVAP) Project Consultant

Introduction

International Rescue Committee (IRC) is the custodian of the Temporarily Displaced People (TDP) Vulnerability Assessment and Profiling (IVAP) mechanism, with IVAP field teams working throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. Serving as the grant manager of IVAP since 2010, IRC has worked to achieve the founding objectives of IVAP (profiling vulnerability levels of displaced families and providing subsequent data to the humanitarian community to allow for targeting of assistance to referred TDPs). In addition, IRC has sought to further develop IVAP by advocating for increased engagement with the initiative's data and for overall acceptance of IVAP's approach by the humanitarian community. As the initiative originally grew from within the humanitarian community, IRC's long term vision for IVAP is for it to eventually be fully accepted, used, and owned by the humanitarian community. IRC's strategy for accomplishing this vision is to continue to work in partnership with its humanitarian counterparts, supporting and advocating for IVAP's acceptance and integration into the design and implementation of the humanitarian community's programs in Pakistan.

Under the present Action IVAP has committed to implement data collection activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administrated Territorial Area (FATA), whilst supporting humanitarian assessment and profiling activities across Pakistan. With this approach IVAP aims to provide timely, actionable, reliable and accessible profiling data on the needs and vulnerabilities of displacement-affected persons to government, humanitarian and development actors; to increase the utility of family-level data from different sources through the development of a data exchange system; and to promote a more collaborative data culture through advocacy, capacity building and technical support.

Project Description aND OBJECTIVEs

The IRC is the custodian of the TDP Vulnerability Assessment and Profiling (IVAP) mechanism, with IVAP field teams working throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. IVAP has gone through five phases to date:

• IVAP-I was implemented between June 2010 and July 2011 and effectively served as a census of all TDP families across 10 districts in KP, collecting data from a total of 92,000 families and highlighting their needs, vulnerability and return intentions.
• IVAP-II was carried out between September 2011 and June 2012. It served to update the data from IVAP I, and to gather additional information on the needs and status of TDPs based on a sample survey involving 5,000 randomly selected families across 13 host tehsils and 10 origin tehsils.
• IVAP III covered the period from July 2012 to January 2013 with the goal of gathering information on TDPs displaced from Khyber agency, and continuing to update earlier data.
• IVAP IV was implemented from January 2013 to February 2014 and involved the assessment and identification of needs of TDPs in Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera, Charsadda, DI Khan, Hangu and Kurram districts.
• IVAP V was implemented from March 2014 to April 2015 in Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank Districts.

The description of project’s intended outcomes and outputs is given below;

Impact: Social and physical wellbeing among conflict affected IDPs and host communities of KP and FATA is improved.

Outcome: Humanitarian actors have improved access to quality and timely data on vulnerability amongst people affected by the complex emergency in KP/FATA enabling them to target the most vulnerable with appropriate and timely assistance.

Output-1: Timely and quality profiling data on the complex emergency in KP/FATA is provided to the government, humanitarian and development communities.

Output-2: Standardized systems for data collection and management established and promoted within the humanitarian community.

Output-3: Humanitarian community adopts increasingly standardized systems for data collection and management.

Output-4: Promoted use of IVAP supported data to guide humanitarian programming and increased coordination.

Evaluation Purpose

The overall objective of the midterm evaluation is to provide an independent systematic assessment of IRC IDPs Vulnerability Assessment Project (IVAP) to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the program on the beneficiaries and analyze the implementation strategies. The evaluation is also expected to identify best practices, areas of improvement, key learnings and recommendations to contribute to future programming, decision making and investment. Beside this the evaluation will also assess the operational aspects, such as project management, logic model, project design and implementation of activities and also the extent to which the specific objectives have been achieved. The midterm evaluation will also analyze the factors affected the achievements of the project objectives positively or negatively. As well as advocacy with partners for programme planning, how the IVAP being used as an advocacy tool by the wider humanitarian community, including the UN leadership and government to improving protection of those affected by conflict.

The consultant is expected to share the evaluation questions along with proposal based on the information provided.

Methodology

The consultant is expected to draft and share the study methodology based on the project information, local context of the project working area and scientifically agreed standards. The methodology need to be the part of the proposal submitted by the consultant.  

Work plan and Schedule

The evaluation will take place in August 2017. Precise timings will be agreed by IRC Pakistan Country Office and the evaluators. The final report is expected to be completed and submitted to IRC Pakistan and by 15th September 2017.

A detailed work plan, schedule and itemized budget will need to be submitted by prospective evaluation team as part of the tendering process. The below table provides a rough guide for estimated days required for completion of key activities:

WORKING DAYS

Review of all background documentation and Inception Report production                                          2

Data collection and entry                                                                                                                                   10

Data analysis                                                                                                                                                        5

Draft report                                                                                                                                                          5

Briefing / debriefing and communication with IRC                                                                                        1

Final evaluation report                                                                                                                                       1

Total                                                                                                                                                                       24 Days

Mid Term Evaluation Outputs

The evaluation team is expected to deliver three key written outputs:

1. Inception Report produced within two weeks of contract being signed detailing the evaluation teams intended methodologies, activity work plan and team responsibilities;
2. Final Project Mid Term Evaluation Report to include project background, detailed findings, conclusions and concrete clear recommendations to inform future IRC programs and other humanitarian interventions.
3. PowerPoint presentation summarizing the background, overall results and recommendations from the evaluation, presented in a clear and engaging format

The project evaluation report must be written in English and not exceed 30 pages (excluding annexes). All reports must be written in Word and submitted in one paper and one electronic copy. The consultant is expected to share the outlines of report along with proposal.

Evaluation Team

The team will be managed from the IRC Pakistan office with overall management responsibility held by IRC Pakistan Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, with leadership and involvement of other IRC Pakistan staff as appropriate for different components of the evaluation.

The evaluation team will need to possess a multidisciplinary mix of evaluative and programmatic skills, qualifications and experience, preferably on needs assessment and protection programs, as well as relevant knowledge and experience of Pakistan. The team is expected to include an in-country evaluation coordinator, and evaluation team with appropriate skills and experience matched to the characteristics of the project.

Required Skills:

·         Post-graduate degree in IR, Development Studies, and/or related field

·         Proven record of undertaking Midterm evaluations / End of Project Evaluations of a similar nature including projects/programs of UN agencies, EU and other International donor organizations.

·         Extensive knowledge of relevant sectors in humanitarian contexts, including protection and needs assessments. A solid and diverse experience in thematic areas of profiling and assessment methodologies and tools, protection, cluster coordination system, preferably in Pakistan. 

·         Experience in the use of participatory methodologies and developing gender sensitive evaluation methodologies;

·         Strong knowledge of and familiarity with Pakistani humanitarian context.

·         Relevant academic qualifications and training in related fields 

·         Significant experience in coordination, design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian programs 

·         Excellent writing, communications and presentation skills 

·         Ability to write clear and useful reports (examples of previous work will need to be submitted) 

·         Fluency in English essential 

·         Understanding of donor requirements and policies 

·         Ability to manage the available time and resources and to work to tight deadlines 

·         Independence from IRC, project stakeholders or other parties involved